Sin, bad art, ramen, toilets: Nine of the world's worst museums

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Sin, bad art, ramen, toilets: Nine of the world's worst museums

By Ben Groundwater
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I love a weird museum. I love a place so bizarre that, rather than providing the educational experience that's intended, it leaves you walking out far more confused than when you entered.

I love it when exhibits make no sense. I love it when everything is so poorly put together, or the whole concept of the place is just so ridiculous, that you have to laugh about it.

I've found that to be enjoyable, a museum either has to be really, really good, or really, really bad. And to be honest I'd prefer the latter. Anyone with enough money to throw around can make a good museum. But how many people can try so hard and yet still make it bad?

These are some of the weirdest and worst that I've seen.

Baku Museum of Miniature Books, Azerbaijan

There are plenty of museums out there dedicated to the odd passions of their owners – from salt and pepper shakers to human hair – but this museum in Baku, Azerbaijan, dedicated to little books, is definitely one of the strangest. The odd thing, for me, is that aside from a few microscopic exceptions, most of the books aren't actually that small. I mean, they're smaller than normal books. But worthy of their own museum?

Museum of Sin, Russia

This has got to be the most grotesque collection of organic oddities going around. The Museum of Sin in Tambov, just south of Moscow, houses the private collection of Yuri Schukin, an undoubtedly strange pathologist who has collected more than 700 samples of body parts and organs that relate to human sin or vices. Most of the actual contents are a bit too horrible to discuss here, although the severed finger of a philanderer who was trying to escape an angry husband is one of the more PG examples.

Cumberland Pencil Museum, UK

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I know, I know – you've often wondered where the world's largest colouring pencil resides. Well wonder no more, stationery fans: it's at the Cumberland Pencil Museum in Keswick, England. This surprisingly unimpressive monstrosity is 7.91 metres high, weighs 446 kilograms, and has no practical use whatsoever. Aside from requiring the world's largest pencil sharpener. Which doesn't exist. Cracking museum.

More: pencilmuseum.co.uk

Museum of Bad Art, USA

Whoever came up with this idea is a genius. I mean, there's only so long you can stand around in real art galleries and pretend you know what you're talking about in front of masterpieces you don't understand. At this Massachusetts institution you get to stare at all of the paintings and say what you really think: this is terrible. And when you mention to someone, "Well, I could have painted that" – you're actually right.

More: museumofbadart.org

Momofuku Ando Instant Ramen Museum, Japan

Only in Japan. Only in Japan would you find a serious museum built to celebrate what's little more than a stoner's munchie break: instant noodles. These delicacies were invented by Momofuku Ando, and at the Osaka museum dedicated to the great man you can follow the entire history of cup-noodle snacks, including the evolution of the packaging, and then, to top it all off, you get to create your very own custom pot. It's weird, and I love it.

More: instantramen-museum.jp/en/

Sulabh International Museum of Toilets, India

Why, India? Why? It's not as if people aren't thinking enough about toilets when they travel through your fascinating and exotic land – now you have to go and build a museum in honour of them? Delhi's International Museum of Toilets does exactly what it says on the box, providing an insight of questionable interest into everything toilet related. The intention is good – to raise awareness of sanitation problems worldwide – but does it really have to be achieved by staring at a dunny?

More: sulabhtoiletmuseum.org

Addis Ababa Museum, Ethiopia

The odd thing about this museum isn't so much the exhibits, but for me it was the guide who latched onto me to conduct a tour when I called in to visit. The museum is filled with bits and pieces from Addis Ababa's recent history, things like an old telephone that the guide explained to me was a "really old telephone", and an old photo, which I was told was a "really old photo". Fascinating.

The Museum of Broken Relationships, Croatia

This is actually an award-winning museum, because if nothing else, it's original. Zagreb's Museum of Broken Relationships houses tangible items that represent failed attempts at love. It's sort of a monument to break-ups, room after room of letters and photos and things like an axe that a jilted lover used to smash up her ex-partner's furniture. It's both hilarious and sad, soothing and scary. And you can make your own donation.

More: brokenships.com

Muzeul Zoologic, Romania

This dusty, strange place in the city of Cluj-Napoca is sort of a "museum museum", a time capsule that shows you what a zoological museum would look like if you didn't touch anything for about 50 years. Housed on a university campus, there are all sorts of strange and badly taxidermied animals here, some hanging from the ceiling, others in cabinets, or others just glaring at you from the floor. Shudder.

More: http://www.welcometoromania.ro/

What are the weirdest museums you've ever visited?

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